Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Wednesday again - already, it can't be, I only just had Sunday.......So it's time for a crafty snoop around the craft desks of the world, and here's mine, looking quite tidy for a change, but still fairly representative of my grasshopper personality - a little bit of Cricut, a little bit of colouring, a little bit of this and a little bit of that......Hop over to Julia's blog if you want to join in with the biggest crafty weekly blog hop in the world. I hope that I can get around everyone this week, last time I took part my computer was playing up and I got tired of leaving messages that said 'hpy WYW le yer cd yur dsk loos tdy his wk' and decided everyone else would be pretty fed up of trying to decipher them as well (In the end, it wasn't my computer at all, just a surplus of biscuit crumbs that some gremlin had deposited in the nooks and crannies of the keyboard. How did that happen?)

The stamped images above were a misguided attempt to make a card for my sweet little granddaughter Kiki who is taking her first communion in May. As I am not a Catholic, I wanted to make a special card but really didn't have a clue what you said on this occasion. Common sense prevailed and I realised that a cute girl image wouldn't really fit the bill here, so they will make their way onto another card, on another day. Here is what I came up with, the easel card base is by Craftwork Cards, the silhouette figure was cut with my Cricut from the Inspired Heart cartridge, and the sentiments were computer generated......

The ribbon is peach seam binding, and the charm is a little silver one......

Her cousin Dorothea is having her first communion in the same service, so two cards were needed. I made the same one, with a couple of minor adjustments, why reinvent the wheel?

I did the sentiment with the names on the cards by making a home made rub-on. I am sure I have put how I do this on here before, but some of you may not have seen it, or I may have sent you to sleep and you missed it.....

Type your sentiment in the chosen font on your computer. Click on print. Go to advanced print options. You will see 'mirror image OFF' click it to read 'mirror image ON'

Insert a sheet of an ordinary transparency into your printer with the slightly rough side up, so that it prints onto the smooth side. Print.

The ink will stay wet for ages, so let it settle a bit, then carefully position it over your card so the ink side is down, and the wording is exactly where you want it. Hold the sheet firmly, and rub with a craft stick, just as you would transfer any rub-on sentiment. The great thing is that if the ink is a bit patchy for some reason, you can go over it with a fine tip pen.

I'll be back tomorrow, when my desk will look a lot more untidy than it does today...

Monday, 27 February 2012

I have been getting my hands inky, playing around with alcohol inks, glossy paper, all sorts of stuff. I had a few people wanting to see the Memory Box Grapevine Wreath die again, so this time, I cut it three times in white, and stacked the cuts on top of each other, to make a nice bushy realistic looking wreath. The flowers are a mix of Martha Stewart, and Memory Box Primula, all cut out in white and coloured with Promarkers.

Here's what you will need. Run a piece of glossy photo paper through an embossing machine using a woodgrain folder - this one is by Sissix. Gather up all your brown and tan alcohol markers, and some blending solution with a blending tool......

Start by scribbling various coloured Promarker browns in a very random way over the embossing.....Don't be afraid to add some black, that sort of settles in the creases and looks like weathered wood.....

Wipe the whole lot over very lightly with a dry blending tool (with felt pad, not foam), and then put just a tiny tiny tiny spot of blending solution onto the pad and dab it as though you are afraid a snake may pop out of the wood and bite you.....just here and there, you can see the effect on the left of the photo below

The end result is quite nice I think - it would be good for a fence as well

Have you all discovered Pinterest? I have seen a few familiar names on there. What is it? A totally addictive waste of time, way of 'pinning' all sorts of things that catch your eye to your own pinboards, that you can share with friends. So if you see a fabulous card/tutorial/project/anything, and want to save it for future reference, instead of saving to a folder, pop it on your pinboard (and of course, you get to see all the fabulous cards and projects that other people have found as well, so it turns into a sort of giant pinboard, whether you are looking for new kitchen ideas, tasty dinner ideas or want to know how to make a tissue paper flower......) So my boards are all things that I have admired elsewhere, although some people do seem to put their own stuff on there as well. It's actually a lot of fun to see what other people like. So my boards are Craft Ideas, Yummy stuff, For the Home, Printables, Quotes. and so on.........the thing I can't work out is how the site owners make their money? There doesn't seem to be any advertising on there - yet

Another 'Maxism' today - that child is coming out with the one-liners so quickly he will fill a book soon. He will be five in May, and is clearly thinking ahead...

Daddy, I would like a jet pack for my birthday please..

I think that may be rather expensive Max, only the army and astronauts use them...

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Here's the second installment from the UK trade Craft Show, Stitches. I sat for ages chatting to Vanessa, who was demoing the Cricut E2 for Kars. She had made all sorts of lovely things, and I was really taken with this card, a sort of gatefold, with a doily from Paper Lace in the center. I will be playing around with this idea myself without a doubt, thanks for the inspiration Vanessa

The Sissix stand was lovely, full of the most gorgeous samples.... don't you love that mobile for a child's room?

There were some ladies wearing headbands made of flowers, that were nice enough to wear to a wedding!

I was very taken with some of the samples made by Sandra, from the House of Zandra. She had made this lovely box, opening with a little key.... Inside was a collage, very cleverly showing a Gorjuss Girl stamp as Alice, with all sorts of little objects around her.....Even the back of the box was decorated

Sandra had made these lovely shoes as well...

More loveliness, this time on the Paper Artsy stand, such gorgeous little altered boxes and canvases here....when I see things like this, I really love them and keep meaning to do a few canvases. Well, I have the blank canvas and plenty of grungeboard here....!

They do a range of dies, with matching stamps, I love that key die in the center of the first photo......

can you see the birdcage die bottom left, with the matching stamp..cute. Some of the dies made the most wonderful grungey flowers as well

I have left the best until last, all the gorgeous samples on the Fiskars stand were made by my best crafty buddy Kath, she has posted them on her blog, so hop over there for some real eye candy, but I couldn't resist sneaking in this lovely Christmas wall hanging here for you to see....

I hope you enjoyed your little trawl around the craft show with me, and that your wish list hasn't grown too much...I know mine has!

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

I had such a good time at Stitches, met up with Kath, Debbi and Charlotte, all from Aberdeen. Kath and I are old friends of course, but it was the first time I met Debbie (Glennie) and Charlotte (Paperterie) in person, so that was great fun.

On to the show, the whole place was awash with Union Jacks, as you know, we have a big year here in the UK, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and hosting the Olympics, and boy, the manufacturers have jumped on the patriotic bandwagon!

We are going to be able to buy all the little red white and blue bits we could ever need, to roll out those street party invitations.....

I loved the Molly Bloom stand (Molly Bloom stamps are made in the UK), the samples were stunning......

Another company that I loved was Little Claire another UK company. Now you all know how much I hate peel off stickers? Well they do some that I actually liked - very much, and would use them (in fact I have a couple of sheets to play with, so watch this space). They are all black, no nasty shiny gold and silver, and they come as outline stickers that you can colour......

Now you wouldn't think this little guy was a sticker would you?

They also made a very cute range of stamps......

Including some 'inside and out' stamps, when you lift the garage door on this card, there is Dad inside......clever!

and I liked these ready cut and folded little tag cards that they make....

That's enough for one day! I'll be back tomorrow with more inspiration from the UK for you all